New Life School, curriculum

The New Life School

The New Life School (NLS) school program is a humanitarian aid program founded in January 2012 by a group of Buddhist monks and lay Cambodians.

This group of people, as the name of the school suggests, had expressed a desire to improve the educational system in their country, starting from what they had before them : a free ground in their pagoda.

Geographically, the An Kau Saa pagoda is located in the heart of Siem Reap, 500 meters from the commercial trendy streets and close to the National Museum of Angkor. It’s one of the most famous pagoda of Siem Reap, at the gateway to the temples of Angkor, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the north-western region of the country, and at about 315 km from its capital, Phnom Penh.

Located at the front of the east wing of the An Kau Saa Pagoda, the school was originally made of 2 classes, one inside, was the Informatics computer class which will become soon a library, and one outside, was the English class.

NLS wish is to provide an indispensable complement of education to the children and adolescents from disadvantaged backgrounds living in the city of Siem Reap and surrounding villages. They first began by setting up English and computer courses, by recycling abandoned supplies and repairing old computers.

In this school, classes are given at the end of the afternoon, following the timetables of the public school, and now offering, in addition to English and French classes, Civic and Social classes, and Buddhist morality on Fridays. The Informatics classes, despite their real necessity, are off, until we will get new computers.

As the seasons goes by, the number of children began to grow, and monastic students, including the founder Venerable VORN Saven, started to use the ground floor of a wooden building on stilts, one of the buildings used as a dormitory for the student monks of the pagoda.

With the help of the first volunteers, they were able to build tables and benches with wooden boards, and they raise sufficient funds to buy two large whiteboards.
The ground was rebuilt and solidified thanks to the contribution of a couple of generous donors, Sharon and King, but now the whole building is degraded and is suffering from the ravages of monsoons and other violent tropical storms.

The same space is now divided into 4 classes, in order to welcome all the children.

The NLS School has enjoyed considerable esteem among the local population, and some of the first students are now working in sectors like hotels and catering, have become tourist guides in Angkor Wat, or even entered Business schools.

A monk teaching English

The Library

The NLS library has outdated textbooks, novels, children’s books and dictionaries have been graciously offered by volunteers and donors, but the section lacks consistency.

Educational manuals in the Khmer language are virtually non-existent and books expensive, but with the help of donators, Orange Heart began to provide it with brand new adapted books.

Children learn by observing others, but they are also more and more in the NLS to attend its library, and even if most of them end up dreaming or playing with each other, they still take the habit of choosing their book, keeping it open in front of them and browsing it with interest.

NLS is really keen to promote reading as a healthy and playful activity, known to be an excellent stimulant of the imagination and that participates in developing a critical mind.

NLS Program

Structure of the school

Renovation of the school: we would like the whole building to gain an energetic independence.

Rebuilding the 4 classrooms

Reinforcement of the current structure (waterproofing of the floors and consolidation of the framework).

To enable our development we need your support

PayPal payment system is the most secure payment method online.

The donation is a simple means of transmitting a part of your heritage, for a true action to which you believe: the development of a decent and adapted education, accessible to all and without any form of discrimination.

About Orange Heart

Orange Heart is a non-profit aid organization based in Paris.

Founded in October 2016 our goal is to maintain a public school called the New Life School. It is a school with a purpose of tutoring that is free and open to everyone since its creation in 2012.